In our series of blog posts covering the B2B account planning stages, so far we’ve researched our accounts, grouped them, and decided which ones to target for further work. Then we’ve strategised on them to create projects that would work best for both us and them, before embarking on the fifth stage, in our previous post, which was to build and execute our plan.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Where all the hard work starts to pay off, or not if we don’t follow through.

The sixth B2B account planning stage is to monitor our progress against the plan. Don’t forget that a plan is a living document. You’ll never get your plan totally right, or even mostly right, so it’s important to monitor as you go, checking actual performance agains planned targets, and adjusting where necessary.

Regular communication is the key here, since it’s a team effort and everyone needs to make sure they’re fulfilling their part of the tasks, or taking action if they’re not. If you don’t communicate regularly, the plan will stagnate, you’ll lose momentum and you won’t monetise all of your great work to date.

Keep going! Keep focused on those specific tasks that help you nibble away at the grand prize, which is securing the go ahead on those high value opportunities.